Thursday, October 25, 2007

I've been listening to Miracle Fortress' Five Roses album and am left a bit disappointed. It had all the hallmarks of a great indie listen:- a one-man (Graham Van Pelt) bedroom-production effort- from Montreal (the 'new' New York/wherever)- talked about all over the blogosphere- the band name had the word 'Miracle' in it (see Miracle Legion, The Miracle Workers etc).

Good review/background from Stylus Magazine here but strangely does nothing for me. Maybe Lately is the one song that stands out - but for the wrong reason (now which 60s band does this sound like?!)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

"You didn't ask about The Broken Family Band" "Get Out Of The Bedroom!!" An impromptu additional crowd response to the opening of You're Like A Woman from tonight's gig.

Things got off to a shaky start with a croaking Steven Adams announcing he had lost his voice. The band had been discussing whether it was only 'proper' bands who cancelled gigs. Anyway they went ahead despite this and with singer fuelled by Raspberry, Echinacea and Lemon tea laced with rum it was an excellent night.BFB give this appearance of just turning up, looking as though they don't quite care what they are doing or where they are - but they then turn in a fantastically committed performance. OK the voice wasn't all there and this took away from songs like John Belushi but in others like It's All Over it gave extra bite. And as well as the music it's the banter and good-humoured vibe from the band that make the evening - some excellent digs at The Thrills who were playing "in the basement" whilst BFB were in the "lofty heights" of Academy 3.

Don't know how much the set was tweaked to work around the voice but a real mix of older songs plus stuff from the last two albums. Even a "super new song" Please Yourself that "won't get recorded for ages". Would have fitted in well on either of last two songs - seemed to be about late night (post-gig?) encounter with someone in a hotel bar with the refrain in the chorus of "why don't you go back to your hotel room/and please yourself".

For the final song of the set the band were joined by tour manager Justin to sing the chorus to Love Your Man, Love Your Woman. However they somehow turned the lack of their singer's voice to their advantage, making the whole thing feel like a celebration. There's not many bands that can do that. They got a great reception from a really mixed (and I mean really mixed) audience and seem genuinely appreciative of it all. They claim not to be touring "for ages". Shame.

Approximate set-listIn The City (with intro from another new song?)

At The Back Of The Chapel

Give And Take

Hey Captain

Twelve Eyes of Evil

Happy Days Are Here Again

Seven Sisters

The Booze And The Drugs

Please Yourself (may have been played a few songs later)

Living in Sin

Honest Man's Blues

John Belushi

Devil In The Details

You're Like A Woman

Dancing On The Fourth Floor

Love Your Man Love Your Woman

- encore -

It's All Over

Missed first support band but caught The Clientele. At first was a bit underwhelmed. Three piece playing mellow 60s-infused country-rock-pop with Dylanesque vocals. But after a few songs it started to make sense. Their latest album is getting good reviews - see here. They finished with a cover of Television's The Fire. Don't have anything by The Clientele to offer but do have Television...plus here's the closing song of the BFB set.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Yesterday's post on the Krankenhaus? EP made me dig out this old single by Consolidated. Industrial-dance-music combining hip hop beats and political sloganeering isn't normally my cup of tea but there was a point in the early 90s where I played this to death. Quick scan of the interweb and it seems Consolidated are still a going concern and putting on albums for free - see here. Still good with a slogan too: "Free Music! Stop America!". Indeed....

Thursday, October 11, 2007

If you are not on the British Sea Power email list (and if not why not? Go here) you might have missed the opportunity to download Atom, the lead song from the Krankenhaus? EP, for free. The five song EP is available digitally this week in advance of the new album with 3 songs exclusive to the EP. A tour-only CD will be available later this month (upcoming gigs here).

DISCLAIMER

New music posted here has been cleared by band/label or has been made generally available. Any other mp3s are purely for evaluation purposes. If you like what you hear buy the real thing, direct from the artists or their label where you can.